


soaring into the unknown

by inquisitor_tohru



Series: The Dashing Gunslinger and the Walking Moustache [5]
Category: The Outer Worlds (Video Game)
Genre: Alex is Bad at Cohabitation (and Feelings), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M, Marriage of Convenience, Married Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:07:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28368138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inquisitor_tohru/pseuds/inquisitor_tohru
Summary: They'd really only signed the marriage contract in order to exploit a certain clause. More specifically, the one that cancelled all of Udom's debts to the Board.
Relationships: ADA & The Original Alex Hawthorne, Udom Bedford/The Original Alex Hawthorne
Series: The Dashing Gunslinger and the Walking Moustache [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2070972
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8
Collections: write to my heart





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the **write to my heart** shiritori community! My starter was _"Maybe making this trip wasn’t such a bad idea, after all."_

Maybe making this trip wasn’t such a bad idea, after all. Upgrading the SAM unit could wait a while. He hadn't exactly been looking forward to visiting Roseway to acquire an acid steeper anyway. This was much better. That's what Alex kept telling himself.

It wasn't anything against his new husband, although given that they'd really only signed the marriage contract in order to exploit a certain clause (more specifically, the one that cancelled all of Udom's debts to the Board), the word sounded alien on his tongue. Still, he did genuinely enjoy his company, just typically in much smaller doses. Again, it wasn't a reflection on Udom so much as on Alex himself. He'd been without a crew for so long that he'd forgotten how to live with other people. (Except ADA, but ADA was different.) The  _ Unreliable  _ was large enough to afford each of them their own space and then some, but that didn't do anything to change the fact that he was now sharing his living quarters with a living, breathing, flesh-and-blood man to whom he was legally married and who also may or may not be his boyfriend. Alex realised he hadn't really thought about attaching a label to his relationship with Udom up until now.

It was kind of complicated.

Complicated enough that he'd turned down Phineas Welles' offer of a job (chaperoning some 'person of interest', apparently) to do some serious fucking introspection. Not that it was really getting him anywhere, save for the bottom of a bottle or ten of algae lager, which wasn't even his drink of choice, and he'd had a little trouble finding it at first, since Udom had taken it upon himself to tidy (and completely rearrange) the kitchen. Thank Law that ADA saw fit to record an updated inventory. Alex had amused himself briefly with the fact that it now listed a number of Udom's personal belongings, which included Auntie Cleo's  _ Superior _ Pomade. Then he'd freaked out a bit, because  _ it now listed a number of Udom's personal belongings,  _ and locked himself in the captain's quarters.

"Udom Bedford is a welcome addition to the crew," ADA said, startling him. He needed to turn those damn speakers down. "My analysis of his aptitudes has revealed his skill set to be complementary to your own." Alex laughed into his hand - ADA sure had a way with words. Not entirely unlike Udom.

"You're saying we couldn't be more different? And he's not crew, he's my...husband." Yep, definitely weird.

"Is that why he doesn't sleep in the crew quarters?" she asked with, if he wasn't mistaken, a hint of amusement. "I have also calculated his romantic compatibility with you, Alex." Without access to a projection of ADA's visage, he merely frowned at the speakers.

"What?"

"Seventy-one-point-three percent. The likelihood of divorce is negligible."

"Huh." Well, he supposed that was something to think about. ADA  _ was _ pretty smart. "Wait, this isn't about my 'reckless behaviour' again, is it? Because that doesn't mean shit if you're calculating that probability based on me  _ dying,  _ ADA." That pause was a little long for his liking.  _ "ADA?" _

"No. My apologies for the delay, Captain. I experienced an...unexpected power surge." 

"Don't worry. I'll take a look, make sure everything's  _ ship-shape."  _ He imagined ADA's eyes rolling, and was actually a little surprised not to hear her groan. Hopefully he hadn't snagged anything the last time he'd tinkered with the connections between her core system and  _ Unreliable's _ toasters, but if he had, he'd happily go back to slightly undercooked toast for her sake.

As ADA had noted, Udom didn't stay in the crew quarters, but in Alex's bed. In this instance, he didn't especially mind sharing his personal space (and not  _ just  _ because of the amazing sex, though he certainly wasn't going to complain about that). He enjoyed the quiet companionship - tangled limbs, heads rested on chests and shoulders, and the comforting weight of arms draped over waists - as he nodded off. 

"Perhaps we ought to look for an apartment." Alex opened his eyes, lids too heavy for this conversation.

"Your pillow talk's going downhill, Udom," he sighed. Still, now that it had come up, there was no escaping it. "Where? _Byzantium?"_ He smirked, glad to feel some of the tension leave Udom's shoulders. _Technically_ they could, since Udom was a citizen and now, by extension, so was Alex. He'd even chipped in to buy back the official Board seal that Udom had sold to Gladys to fund his serial side project, so they could have sorted out the proper documents if they'd been so inclined.

The thing was, Byzantium was expensive as shit.

"Law, no," Udom laughed, "I was thinking of the  _ Groundbreaker,  _ actually. That way, I can go back to my job at the embassy after...unless you have another suggestion, of course?" He didn't.

_"Groundbreaker_ sounds good. You _want_ to keep your job?" Something about that didn't sit right with Alex, beyond his usual prejudices towards the Halcyon Holdings Corporation and the Board. _Something_ being the fact that Sophia Akande had been all too happy to see Udom end up in waste disposal (but only after charging him for the time it took her to find his replacement, naturally). While there was no life or death situation _at present,_ the fact that there had been at all stank worse than a raptidon gone into heat.

_ "Want  _ to? What an odd question."

"Not really. I've changed professions more than once." Udom looked rather affronted at that, as if he'd imagined the outcome of Alex's career aptitude test had determined his life as a smuggler, despite the fact that they'd talked about this. "It's not like you've  _ always  _ been a liaison either." Architect be damned,  _ this _ conversation was even more difficult than the prospect of looking for an apartment. "Look, Udom, I...I'm really not the best person to give  _ advice _ about this stuff. But maybe talk to ADA in the morning? She's good at this, and besides, the two of you ought to get to know each other a little." What he meant was that ADA could be impartial, because she was a machine, and because Udom wasn't  _ her  _ boyfriend. 

'Boyfriend' was a lot more comfortable than 'husband', he'd decided. He actually kind of liked it.

He also kind of liked the idea of the apartment, now that Udom had brought it up. It'd be more Udom's space than his, since Alex could never remain grounded for long, and it'd be good for him to get out of that sad, beige box of an apartment on the floor above his embassy office. 

"I'd like that," Udom said, beaming like Alex had agreed to introduce him to his parents and not the  _ Unreliable's  _ navigational computer. Alex rested his head on Udom's chest, drifting off to the rhythmic thump of his heart, and then it dawned on him.

ADA  _ was  _ the closest thing he had to family.


	2. Chapter 2

A little while after Udom had settled into the apartment, Alex brought back a coffee maker. Spacer's Choice was all he could afford at the minute, but it'd still be an improvement on Udom's Law-damned coffee, and they could always upgrade once he got a more lucrative job offer. Or once Udom saved up enough bits - whichever came first.

"So," Alex said, adding a splash of whiskey to one of the coffees he'd made, for a bit of an extra kick up the backside, "you said Sophia called?" Udom chuckled.

"Indeed, and I'm afraid she was rather cross with me, if you'll forgive such a gross understatement."

"Isn't she always? Pissed off at everything, I mean."

"Alright, then - more than _usual."_ It wasn't like they hadn't been expecting this. Just because the Board was legally obliged to write off Udom's debts, didn't mean they were going to be happy about it (or anything, ever, that didn't line their pockets). Alex had the distinct feeling that Phineas was pissed off with him, too, since he'd flaked out on that last job he'd hired him for, but it wasn't _really_ his fault. It's not like he'd planned to get hitched that weekend. Besides, the guy didn't even trust him enough to test the Shrink Ray, so he didn't know why he wanted _him_ to escort some _person of interest._ Anyway, he was sure Phineas had plenty of other contacts.

"Figures."

"Did you manage to pick up...it  _ was _ an acid steeper, wasn't it?" Alex smiled. It was kind of sweet that Udom remembered, since he didn't have a mechanical bone in his body (literally  _ or  _ metaphorically). 

"I wish. I stopped by Roseway on the way here, and that pit's even more of a shitshow than it usually is. Raptidons, Udom. Fucking _raptidons."_

"Goodness." Alex tried not to roll his eyes, because he knew Udom,  _ thankfully, _ hadn't had the misfortune of being within reach of a raptidon's teeth and claws, or felt their breath tickle the back of his neck. And  _ Law,  _ their breath reeked something rotten. None of that really came across in the serials. 

"Yeah. I dunno what the hell Auntie Cleo's playing at, but it's definitely nothing good." Alex didn't normally like to get too nosy about corporate business since nothing good came of that either, but  _ raptidons _ were taking the piss. He'd have considered needling Udom for intel if he thought he'd know anything, but it wasn't exactly his jurisdiction - in his own words, most of what he did involved sending messages, occasionally reading them, and impounding the  _ Unreliable,  _ which was now more of a joke between them than anything else. Maybe Gladys had heard something. Her intel was usually good, and he might as well ask as long as he was on the  _ Groundbreaker. _

"I think ADA missed you," Alex said after a few minutes of almost comfortable silence. "She thinks you're a good influence. You rein in my reckless tendencies, or something."

"And did  _ you  _ miss me?" Udom looked so hopelessly earnest that Alex was nearly tempted to tell him he'd thought about gently fucking him (he absolutely refused to refer to the act as  _ making love)  _ under the stars every night while he jerked himself off, but that was embarrassing as hell. He'd rather fight a raptidon unarmed than admit any of that out loud.

"Yeah, I guess I did," he said, leaning over the breakfast bar to kiss him. "How about you show me that fancy new bedding you mentioned...I don't know, like, four times?"

"You said, and I quote- oh." Alex laughed as realisation crept across Udom's face.

_ "Oh,  _ indeed."

  
  


The bedding was pretty nice, to be fair, but Alex wasn't really inclined to pay too much attention with a fellow riding his dick, and especially not when it was Udom.

"Fuck, oh Law,  _ yes _ ...I've missed this. Missed  _ you." _ He wrapped his arms around Udom's waist to pull him closer, as close as he could get, and listened for the way his breath hitched when his hips snapped up. But next time,  _ he'd  _ pick out the bedding. These silky sheets made it harder to maneuver, and his thrusts were jerky, the penetration not quite as deep as either of them wanted.

"I missed you, too," Udom panted, his breath hot and ragged against Alex's forehead, "I...couldn't stop thinking about you."

"Yeah? What about me?" He was up for trying new things,  _ or  _ revisiting certain mutually pleasurable memories, so this ought to be good. "Anything I can do for you  _ now?" _

"That time in my office," Udom mumbled, kissing his forehead despite the film of sweat that clung to them both, "with you in my lap, and-"

"-when you came in my ass, and then blew me? Yeah, it's not like I could forget about that. You want me to come inside you now?" Udom nodded, his whole body seeming to shudder in anticipation. "I can do that." It was kind of funny, really, that he'd been so starved for any more  _ creative _ fantasies that the idea of coming in his boyfriend's - no,  _ husband's  _ (he was getting used to the word after six weeks) - ass was apparently what got him going, enough that he was  _ already _ close to doing just that. Udom was close, too, the tip of his cock already slick with precome as it rubbed against Alex's stomach. He kissed Udom hard when he came, shaking and shivering beneath his warm body, and slid his hand between them to finish getting Udom off. 

He flopped forward, his body going heavy and limp on top of Alex's, cock still twitching and leaking onto his stomach.

"You probably already know this," Udom said, carefully disentangling himself. Alex missed the tight heat as soon as his dick slid out. "But I'm very much in love with you." 

Of  _ course  _ Udom had to go and make it weird. But maybe, just maybe, it was a good kind of weird.


End file.
